X.500, SR/Z39.50 and networked information retrieval

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 Steve:  we seem to have been working on parallel tracks - so I'll just
 pull a few more people into the arena. (Steve's original msg. follows).
 
 First  a  quick  bit  of  background.   I  chair  the user support and
 information services subgroup of RARE WG3.  (The other subgroup is  of
 course  Directories.)  At  our meeting in Zurich I tried to get people
 interested in talking about networked information retrieval, with only
 a small amount of success.  Chris Weider was there and Tim Berners Lee
 (World Wide Web) and they were quite interested in setting up  a  list
 to discuss the broader issues.
 
 There  is  a  great deal going on in the area of networked information
 retrieval, with protocols: X.500 and SR/Z39.50,  and  implementations:
 WAIS,  WWW,  archie  etc  etc  etc.   And  the  Librarians through the
 Coalition of Information also have an important role to play.
 
 All  of  these  are  nibbling  away at the "grand problem" - but often
 without reference to the others.  There are many associated  problems,
 but just to name just one: X.500 and Z39.50 are each good in their own
 respect  for  tackling  part  of the problem of information discovery,
 searching and retrieval, but neither of them are  suited  to  tackling
 the  problem  of  information delivery.  (cf.  paper by Wengyik Yeong:
 Towards Networked Information Retrieval).
 
 I  was  not  able  to  attend  the IETF in November - but hoped that a
 working group would be set up on this.  I would certainly like to  see
 something  happen  in  the March IETF. (I don't know how broad Steve's
 X.500/WAIS session would be.) Also I would like to see this  discussed
 at  the Joint European Networking Conference in Innsbruck (Austria) in
 May.
 
 There  is  a need for a "coordinating" or "state of the nation" list -
 ie a list to help us keep informed of what's going on in  the  various
 areas.  There is already a list for archie, and now a list for the new
 Internet  Anonymous  FTP  Archives Working Group.  There's a Coalition
 for Networked Information list on  Directories  (X.500),  another  for
 WAIS - others for Z39.50 .... and so on.
 
 I'd  like  to see a list where we could discuss the relative merits of
 the various search and navigation techniques for networked information
 retrieval (NIR).  Maybe such a list already exists - in which  case  -
 please  could  someone  tell  us.   It  would  be extremely useful for
 starters if someone from each area could summarise  the  major  points
 relating to their particular area - perhaps as follow:
 
 Topic: (e.g. World Wide Web)
 
 Mailing lists:
 
 Contact(s):
 
 Brief description of topic (including use and purpose):
 
 (about 10 to 20 lines)
 
 References: (papers etc pertaining to the topic)
 
 If  this  works,  we  would  have an information source which would be
 valuable in itself.  If we can collaborate to produce a summary  every
 month  or  two - it would be even more useful and enable us to keep in
 touch with developments without having to  follow  detailed  technical
 discussions on each and every list.
 
 Comments welcome - fire away!
 
 -- Jill Foster
 
Steve Kille's original message follows:
 
Subject:  Re: "A Catalog of Available X.500 Implementations" now in a WAIS server
 
Re:
 
>
> How about holding a BOF one evening at the San Diego IETF in March.
> There will be Directory experts present for the OSI-DS and DISI WG
> meetings.  Would this be sufficiently interesting for sufficent of the
> WAIS people to come?
>
> I am happy to co-chair this meeting with a WAIS expert (could you
> suggest someone or volunteer?)
>
> I suggest that sometime before the BOF, we should have informal demos
> of WAIS and Directory for those not familiar with both systems.
>
> A suggested list of  aims of the  BOF:
>
> 1) To delineate scope of X.500 and WAIS/Z39.50 and note overlap
>
> 2) To determine possibilities for integration and co-existence
>
> 3) To make a list of possible work items in the area
>
> 4) To determine if it makes sense to establish either a mailing list
>         or a WG
>
>
> Steve